Negotiations over the Burns report were deadlocked last night, with the professional game refusing to bow to pressure from the Football Association executive to abandon its insistence on an all-or-nothing vote at today's crucial council meeting in London.

Geoff Thompson, FA chairman, and the chief executive, Brian Barwick, are considering offering the council a choice on how it wants to vote, allowing councillors to cherry-pick the measures they approve of rather than reject the whole report because of their objections to an independent chairman being elected to the board.

This is unacceptable to the professionals. The Premier League and Football League chairmen, Sir Dave Richards and Lord Mawhinney, wrote to Thompson yesterday to remind him that the last FA board meeting approved the one-vote approach. One insider warned last night that any attempt to renege on this commitment will spell trouble for the leadership.

While council members considered their position at a meeting last night eyebrows were raised at the fact that only three of the six professional game representatives will be present at the meeting, Richards, Mawhinney and Robert Coar. Manchester United's chief executive David Gill is on holiday, Bolton's chairman Phil Gartside is in China and Ipswich's David Sheepshanks is also busy. Barwick, meanwhile, will attend the meeting having returned from a Uefa meeting in Switzerland.

Beeb still the masters

The BBC is close to confirming a deal that will see it hang on to the Masters, the first golf major of the year, despite stiff competition from Sky, which is thought to have offered four times more than the £1m the corporation has paid in recent years. The deal comes at a price for the Beeb, however, as it is thought to have won only a one-year contract, effectively putting it on probation with the notoriously sniffy Augusta National authorities. The US rights holder, CBS, faces a similar test every year, as it has a rolling one-year contract. The BBC's priority will be to improve on last year's coverage, when the debutant presenter, Gary Lineker, attracted criticism. Weather interruptions and the seat-of-your-pants challenge of working to pictures over which the BBC has no control made life tricky for the Match of the Day presenter, but the the corporation is confident he will be more sure-footed next year.

More from the draw

The FA has revamped the FA Cup draw, with Sir Trevor Brooking, below, taking over as MC and stars of other sports booked to replace the retired footballers who have hitherto lent a hand. Brooking will be joined at Soho Square tomorrow for the draw for the first round proper by rugby World Cup winners Will Greenwood and Matt Dawson. The second-round draw will feature Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting, and Amir Khan and Ricky Hatton will be there for the third round in January.

Count your blessings

News of a fourth-round Carling Cup tie away to Southend on a Tuesday night in November was met with consternation in the Manchester United dressing room on Wednesday, until a member of Crewe's back-room team popped his head round the door to say, "At least you're in the draw."

Blatt against Plat

In case there was any doubt about who Sepp Blatter is supporting in the forthcoming Uefa presidential election, the Fifa president made it clear yesterday. A statement issued after he and Lennart Johansson had discussed "the vital importance of football" concluded: "The two presidents agreed that continuity in football leadership is important, especially in these challenging times." Johansson is opposed by Michel Platini. Blatter's stance is not unconnected to his fear that Uefa would give Platini a platform from which to challenge for the Fifa job.

Prime time's fine

The US broadcaster NBC has won a significant victory in its battle over the 2008 Beijing Olympic schedule, with the confirmation yesterday that some swimming and gymnastic finals have moved to accommodate a peak-time American audience. The switch has been controversial, with Australia's swimmer Grant Hackett an outspoken critic, though it has been pointed out he is a consultant for Australian broadcaster Channel 7, which is a loser from the schedule. The BBC will be satisfied to see that the rowing finals, a ratings winner in the UK, have found a weekend slot.